Take two parts weak plot, a hint of bad controls and crummy auto aiming, add a dash of overdone stretches of boredom amidst short stretches of rather fierce action, and you've got Alien: Resurrection's downside. But here's the upside: these are Ridley Scott's aliens, and they're coming for you relentlessly. The game gives you the heebie-jeebies when you're playing it all alone with the lights turned low. The tension often can become palpable as you reload your weapon, administer a health pack, and pray that the beasts don't hit you from a direction that you hadn't anticipated. The premise of the game is pretty standard Alien fare: you, as Ripley, are locked in a life-or-death outer-space struggle to keep the devious Dr. Wren from bringing alien samples to earth. What more is there to know? The atmosphere that's created by Alien: Resurrection's various environments, animations, and sounds is the primary reason to purchase this game. Because it relies heavily on suspense (the sense that these adversaries can be nowhere and everywhere at the same time has never been more real in a game), Alien: Resurrection sometimes can go even beyond what you'd consider merely scary to an entirely new terrorizing experience. The game engine supports all of this with atmospherics like lighting effects, fogging, dripping water (and blood?), and other particle effects, without causing you to endure much--if any--slowdown. But suspense can go only so far. As in the movies, if the actual confrontations with the aliens don't live up to expectations, the whole game suffers. Even as they start off with a bang, the alien encounters follow a script. After making a dramatic entrance, they mostly just give you the bum's rush without any thought for using available cover, or even jogging from side to side as they advance. With their plodding movements, it's no surprise, when you actually get into the alien firefight that you've been expecting and craving, that the tension completely disappears. --Todd Mowatt Pros: Genuinely suspenseful Great graphics and atmospherics Cons: Weak plot, with boring stretches Predictable alien encounters